What Do You Worry About?

In our week of posts on an assortment of topics, this came up as a suggestion from a reader. I wanted to jump on this today and see if I could actually help those who worry too much about things. I am reminded of the Bible verse that tells us not to worry about those things needed for everyday life. The actual verse lists those things that so many of us worry about such as what we will eat and what we will wear, yet they seem so simple.

There are so many things in life that become worse by us worrying about them. If you ever sit in a public place with a lot of people around, you can hear people worrying about and getting upset over all sorts of things. On the flip side, did you ever look at, or just sit and listen to someone who is developmentally challenged in some way? Many of them find such pleasure in very small things. Children are the same way. They look forward to things and find great joy in the little things. I think it’s interesting that the Bible also instructs us to approach things like little children – with faith and trust and joy.

As I am writing this, I’m sitting in a Starbuck’s  listening to a developmentally challenged 27-year-old man talk about all the things that he just loves in life. He’s full of passion and enthusiasm. In the same café is a man who is worried about his contract with vendors who have not delivered, and he wants to move on to another town where he has work. They are two people who are on the opposite ends of the scope of worry. One feels the world is crashing in on him; the other see the simple things of rerun TV and the cars in the parking lot as joys. Now you may think that the contractor is the person who is getting things done, that he is worried because he has a clearer view of the world. But I ask you this: who is enjoying life more?

Today, I say take some of the stress out of life; turn your thoughts around to remove worry. As part of one of my speeches, I talk about faith or fear. They both are basically about how you see the unknown. You have one or the other but you cannot have both at the same time. We can have fear or worry about the unknown or belief that the worst is going to happen.

The alternative, faith, is to believe that best will happen and, if it doesn’t, we will be able to handle whatever does happen. And we can see the joy in whatever is thrown our way.

Today, I choose to have faith. I believe that life will get better, so then I will act on that faith and make choices to make life better. Once you start to put faith into action, it is the first step towards improvement in your life. You make the one small choice by faith, it brings about an improvement. You see it work, then your faith grows. You watch your world expand and get better and bigger.

My challenge to you today is this: if you feel fearful or worried about a choice you are about to make, take a small step in faith to make the fear not come true. Make faith your stepping-stone of action. I know that may seem hard, but that first stepping-stone can be the beginning of all the things you’ve ever dreamed of for yourself.

I’m Tim Gillette, the Rocker Life Coach. It’s time for you to live the life you always dreamed of, loving what you do and those you share life with. Let us help you solve the problems that are keeping you from being the RockStar in your world.